Yo Unregistered: Join us for the April 1 meeting when it will be Recovery night. We will have demonstrations working with winching, recovery and spotting. We will meet at 7:30 p.m. at Jefferson County Fairgrounds (not Stevinson Toyota but nearby).

It sounds like I need to replace at least the inner tie rods on my FJ. Thinking I'll probably do the outers as well since I'll have it all apart anyway. Any recommendations on a Toyota dealer to buy the parts from?

If you prefer to order via phone and have the guy, or gal, in brown drop the stuff off at your door step then I'd call Cruiserdan (Dan Busey) at American Toyota down in ABQ...he provides discounted pricing to IH8MUD members.

Then there are vendors like Slee, Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters, etc. - lots of choices depending on what you need and who might carry it.

The dealerships above offer Rising Sun members discounts (they have a roster) - one of the benefits of being a member

I had a rattle in the rack and pinion on my 3rd gen 4Runner that sounded just like inner tie rod ends. I was able to adjust the preload on the rack and quiet this down. You might check this (look for up-and-down play in the driver's side rack output with someone wiggling the steering wheel back and forth) before buying tie rod ends. I had to ship mine back to RockAuto at my expense. My buddy with a Tundra did the same to his rack, and I suspect this play adjustment is available on all 4wd Toyota steering racks. Just a thought!

thanks for the tips. yesterday, i checked for play in the tie rods and rack but it all seems solid. headed in for an alignment sometime this week so i'll see what they say. i've got to do an oil change sometime this week too so i'll make sure everything is greased up.